Flexible members such as cords may conveniently be carried in cord caddies for subsequent dispensing, collecting and storing during periods of nonuse. However, prior art cord caddies have never been completely satisfactory in that for a given size the amount of cord that was dispensed was not long enough, or the operation was not sufficiently reliable whereby repeated use would result in internal tangling or knotting of the cord therein. Upon a malfunction the caddy would have to be disassembled, and even if this eventuality were provided for the problem would soon reoccur.
The prior art cord caddies were bulky, expensive and unreliable in operation. Many of the prior art cord caddies included a clutch which added to the cost and complexity of the cord caddy without aiding reliability thereof. Also, the amount of cord stored was limited, and attempts to increase the capacity only led to a higher incidence of tangling and other malfunctions during the winding or unwinding of the cord within the cord caddy. While some prior art cord caddies may be better than others it is believed that none have been fully satisfactory so that the problem of developing a simple, inexpensive and reliable cord caddy remains.